Energy audit obligation: which companies must audit – and what actually applies?

The short answer

An energy audit must be carried out by every company that is not a small or medium-sized enterprise (§ 8 EDL-G) – the first within 20 months, then at least every four years, under the standard DIN EN 16247-1. A company running an energy management system under ISO 50001 or EMAS is exempt; above more than 7.5 gigawatt hours of annual consumption that system is required anyway (§ 8 EnEfG).

On top comes a second, often overlooked threshold: above 2.5 gigawatt hours the company must draw up, have confirmed and publish implementation plans for the economically viable savings measures found in the audit (§ 9 EnEfG). A breach can cost up to 50,000 euros.

That may change soon: the government bill amending the EnEfG would detach the duty from non-SME status and tie it to more than 2.77 gigawatt hours of annual consumption. As of 9 November 2026 it has not been passed.

Who is subject to the energy audit obligation in 2026? (§ 8 EDL-G)

In 2026 the energy audit obligation applies to every company that is not an SME, regardless of sector. The consumption thresholds of 2.5 and 7.5 gigawatt hours do not trigger the audit; they add further duties on top.

The Energy Services Act (EDL-G) ties the duty not to consumption but to company size. Under § 1 No. 4 EDL-G it applies to every company that is “not a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise within the meaning of Recommendation 2003/361/EC” – in short, a non-SME.

Under that EU recommendation, an SME is a company with fewer than 250 employees and either at most 50 million euros annual turnover or at most 43 million euros balance-sheet total. A company therefore loses SME status if it has 250 or more employees, exceeds both the turnover and the balance-sheet limit, or is linked to a large company through holdings. The audit duty then applies. This is exactly where many mid-sized firms misjudge themselves: a corporate group can turn a notionally small operation into an audit-liable non-SME.

The first audit is due within 20 months of the duty arising under § 8 para. 2 EDL-G, and must then be repeated at least every four years. For companies with at most 500,000 kilowatt hours of annual consumption, a simplified online declaration under § 8 para. 4 suffices instead of the full audit.

What the audit must deliver (DIN EN 16247-1)

The audit is no formality. Under § 8a para. 1 No. 1 EDL-G it must meet the requirements of DIN EN 16247-1 in the November 2022 edition, and under No. 5 it must cover at least 90 per cent of the company's total energy consumption – electricity, heat and fuels combined. It identifies the largest consumers, assesses economically sensible savings measures and thus provides the data base on which every further decision rests.

Anyone running a certified energy management system under ISO 50001 or an environmental management system under EMAS, or who has begun introducing one, is exempt from the audit duty under § 8 para. 3 EDL-G – the system replaces the individual audit.

When do a management system and implementation plans come on top? (EnEfG)

The Energy Efficiency Act layers two consumption-based stages over the audit duty. What counts in each case is the average total final energy consumption of the last three completed calendar years.

Threshold (avg. three calendar years)	Duty	Basis
Company is not an SME	Energy audit, repeated at least every four years	EDL-G § 8
> 2.5 GWh/year	Draw up implementation plans, have them confirmed by an auditor and publish them	EnEfG § 9
> 7.5 GWh/year	Energy or environmental management system (ISO 50001 / EMAS)	EnEfG § 8

The implementation plans under § 9 EnEfG are the point at which transparency becomes a duty to act: the company must record the measures identified as economically viable in the audit or management system in plans whose completeness an auditor confirms, and publish them – within three years at the latest.

What will the EnEfG amendment change about the energy audit obligation?

The government bill would for the first time tie the audit to consumption rather than company size. Until promulgation the existing law applies: the Federal Government adopted the bill on 24 June 2026 (printed paper 21/8027), the Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy heard experts on 5 October 2026, and no final vote is documented as of 9 November 2026.

Point	Current law	Government bill (printed paper 21/8027)
Audit trigger	company is not an SME	average of more than 2.77 GWh/year over three calendar years, reference date 1 January
First audit	20 months after the duty arises	12 months after the duty arises, at the earliest 12 months after entry into force
Repeat	at least every four years	unchanged
Simplification up to 500,000 kWh	online declaration instead of a full audit	abolished
Management system	more than 7.5 GWh/year	more than 23.6 GWh/year
Implementation plans	more than 2.5 GWh/year, within three years, external confirmation	more than 2.77 and less than 23.6 GWh/year, within three months of the audit, annual update, no external confirmation

This would shift the group affected considerably. According to the explanatory memorandum, around 38,317 non-SMEs have been covered so far; in future it would be around 22,798 companies. A company that is large but uses little energy would drop out. An energy-intensive SME, for example with process heat, could become subject to the audit for the first time. The memorandum, based on BAFA data, puts the cost of an audit at around 11,500 euros.

According to the memorandum, companies that have already been audited keep their four-year cycle from the last audit. Also new would be an exemption for the term of an energy performance contract, provided it meets the requirements for a management system and Annex XV of Regulation (EU) 2023/955. The act is to enter into force on the day after promulgation; changes during the parliamentary process are possible.

Worked example: a business with 3.2 gigawatt hours a year

Assumptions: a commercial business (non-SME) consumes 3,200,000 kilowatt hours of final energy a year – 480,000 kWh of electricity and 2,720,000 kWh of natural gas.

Energy type	Quantity	Price (ex VAT)	Cost/year
Electricity (band 20–500 MWh)	480,000 kWh	23.66 ct/kWh	113,568 €
Natural gas (band 1,000–10,000 GJ)	2,720,000 kWh	8.11 ct/kWh	220,592 €
Total	3.2 GWh	—	≈ 334,160 €

The prices come from the Destatis press release No. 345 of 30 September 2026 for non-household customers in the first half of 2026. Because it is not an SME, this business must submit an energy audit; it has to cover at least 90 per cent of consumption, here at least 2.88 GWh. At 3.2 GWh it is above 2.5 GWh and therefore in the implementation-plan duty of § 9 EnEfG, but below 7.5 GWh, so no management system is yet required. If the amendment passes as in the government bill, at 3.2 GWh it would remain subject to the audit, being above 2.77 GWh, but would have only three months instead of three years for the implementation plans.

If the audit – a cautious assumption – finds only 10 per cent economically viable savings potential, that is around 33,000 euros a year. Against that stands a fine of up to 50,000 euros for a missed audit. This is exactly why, from a business owner's point of view, the duty is not a pure cost item but usually the cheapest site analysis a company can get.

What companies should do now

1. Check SME status cleanly – including linked companies. The group often decides the duty, not the single site.
2. Determine the three-year average of total final energy consumption and measure it against the 2.5 GWh and 7.5 GWh thresholds.
3. Commission an audit under DIN EN 16247-1 or, where high consumption is foreseeable, set up an ISO 50001 system directly – that exempts you from the individual audit.
4. Note the deadlines: first audit within 20 months, repeat every four years, implementation plans within three years.
5. Use the implementation plans as a roadmap, not as paperwork – the measures listed there are the ones with the best net present value.
6. Keep an eye on the amendment: even as an SME, check the three-year average against 2.77 GWh, because under the bill a twelve-month period would then run.